Leoben

Really glad for Terunofuji. Coming back after surgery and such a long layoff and taking the cup emphatically like that. A year ago I thought his chances of earning the coveted Dai- were close to 0, but who knows now.

True. It looked like Teru's got hurt yesterday so I thought there was potential for an upset but he made it look easy.

Asanoyama made it easy for Terunofuji. The gap between them continues to be like night and day.

Hoshoryu took 3 seconds to process and then was like "wait a second, I can go under his armpit".

Hokuseiho! Another one arm throw but this time against an elite wrestler that is big and powerful and great on the belt. I'm sold. I'm hopping on the bandwagon.

Onosato loses the first match in the imaginary competition with Ochiai. Disappointed we didn't get to see Hoshoryu. In some of the recent training videos I think he looked even bigger and more muscular than last tournament. Would have been cool to see that tested today.

This surprised me. I assumed their relationship would be very strong given his unique career trajectory and the quotes where he thanks Isegahama for pushing him to keep going, but you never know really.

This is probably my least favorite thing about Sumo. He has been Sanyaku for a year, winning a tournament and posting continuous winning scores, and because of this he's going to lose his salary and have to fight his way back from the subterranean ranks.

His use of his hips really stood out to me today, dipping a little to gain leverage and drive with power. Nice little technical gesture that reminded me of his mentor.

Looks like our Yokozuna hopeful's hopes have been dashed only 4 days in.

Fair. Fingers crossed that this time he manages to keep his cool and go all the way.

Hoshoryu is completely dialed in, It feels like he's right on the cusp of taking that next step.

Isegahama has to be one of the all-time great coaches. Two Yokozuna and multiple sekitori is an extremely strong resume.

I believe there was some news in 2021 saying that he had torn his ACL or MCL and decided not to have surgery and just fight through it. I hope this isn't the same injury again, it could jeopardize his career if it is.

Good for him. If he takes time off to recover and rehab he has a shot at going back to being the dominant wrestler he was. I remember seeing him kneel and how he could barely stand up afterwards, and thinking there was no way someone in his condition could complete a tournamnet without daily painkiller injections. It's probably the only thing that's been keeping him going for a while now.